"My girlfriend and I decided to take a romantic getaway on the finger lakes and our drive had us passing through Ithaca, so we decided to stop for dinner. A good friend recommended this place, and admittedly I was skeptical of Italian food this far from New York City, but I trust their recommendations and decided to give it a try. I am so glad that I did. For our wine selection, our server allowed us to sample one of the wines by the glass, which tasted thin. When we described what we wanted, she came back with a reasonably priced bottle that exactly hit the deep red notes that we were looking for (see the picture for the winery vintage if interested . We started with the crostini sampler. In my opinion, the Caponata was the best, but they were all interesting to try and I was glad we got all three. As a nice touch, they cut each crostini in half so my girlfriend and I could both easily sample each one. For dinner, I had the grilled hanger steak, which came with rapini and shoestring fries. I admittedly gave an annoyingly long description of how I wanted it cooked (essentially rare+ and they nailed it. The steak was fantastic, but the accompaniments were so good that they almost stole the show. The shoestring fries’ rosemary seasoning was a fun twist and the rapini was both familiar (garlic and olive oil and excitingly different. For dessert, I had what was essentially espresso mousse with graham crackers and a glass of dessert wine. While probably the weakest course, it was still a delicious way to cap an amazing meal. The mousse required a bit more texture, but fortunately they provided graham crackers on the side (which I suggest crumbling into the mousse . I’d highly recommend checking this place out if you happen to be in the area."
